Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The story contained a claim, made by a neighbor of the family, that a news crew from KEYT had sifted through the ashes on the site of their home and staged video footage.

On Tuesday, the Indy ran this retraction:

Upon further investigation, neither the Keltners nor Robar have been able to produce any evidence to support their claims of “staging.” Robar also admits that the re-arranged items he witnessed could have been set up by a separate news crew, or perhaps even by firefighters, who used the property extensively. KEYT, meanwhile, has scoured their video footage from the Jesusita Fire and led their own investigation into the actions of their news crews. They are confident — and have assured The Independent in multiple conversations — that there are no instances of “staging” nor any evidence that they acted inappropriately or illegally during their extensive coverage of Jesusita Fire.

Craig Smith is a law professor and has been blogging about the local Santa Barbara scene since 2006. When he’s not teaching law school classes or blogging, he enjoys bike riding, skiing and playing piano.